Press Release INTRODUCING THE FIRST WORLD UNIVERSITY RUGBY CUP

INTRODUCING THE FIRST WORLD UNIVERSITY RUGBY CUP

· World University Rugby Cup 2015 will see eight universities from rugby nations battle for the University World Champions title

· Tournament to be hosted by Oxford University Rugby Football Club (OURFC)

· Inaugural event set to run in parallel to the Rugby World Cup every four years

This September, the first ever World University Rugby Cup (WURC) will be held in England. The inaugural tournament will be hosted by Oxford University Rugby Football Club (OURFC), one of the world’s oldest university rugby club, and involve eight universities from leading rugby nations competing for the University World Champion title.

The World University Rugby Cup 2015 will involve:

· University of Oxford (England)

· Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)

· University of Cape Town (South Africa)

· New Zealand Universities (collective university team) (New Zealand)

· Waseda University (Japan)

· University of British Columbia (Canada)

· Stanford University (USA)

· Siberian Federal University (Russia)

Teams will be split into two pools and play each other once. Group stages will take place at St Edward’s School, on Tuesday the 15th and Friday the 18th of September.

After the group stages, the teams will progress to the knock-out rounds which will take place at the Iffley Road rugby ground, the home of Oxford University RFC, on Friday the 18th, Saturday the 19th, Sundaythe 20th and Monday the 21st of September.

At the closing ceremony the ‘baton’, will he handed over to Waseda University as part of Japan 2019, the next hosts of the World University Rugby Cup.

“I am hugely excited to be welcoming some of the top academic and sporting universities from around the world to Oxford this September. We hope that this is the beginning of a special tournament that will be played in line with the Rugby World Cup for many years to come.”

– George Messum, Captain, Oxford University RFC